21st Commonwealth TT Champs: Odisha inks MoU with TTFI & OSTTA

Surjit kumar Dhal, Bhubaneswar, July 1:  Odisha Government’s Sports & Youth Services (S&YS) Department on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding with Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) and Odisha State Table Tennis Association (OSTTA) for hosting the upcoming 21st Commonwealth Table Tennis (TT) Championships.

S&YS Secretary Vishal Kumar Dev signed the MoU with TTFI Senior Vice-President SN Sultan and OSTTA President L.N Gupta in the presence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and S&YS Minister Tusharkanti Behera.

Officials from all the three organising bodies were also present on the special occasion.

The Chief Minister on the occasion said that the MoU is an important step for promoting sports and especially Table Tennis in the state.

“I congratulate TT Federation of India and the Odisha State TT Association for partnering with our Government in hosting this prestigious event. I hope this event will bring renewed focus on Table Tennis, in which India has been performing well in recent times. I extend my best wishes to the participating teams,” he said.

Odisha Sports Minister Tusharkanti Behera, said, “This championship will see participation from some of the best players from across the globe. Indian players have displayed unprecedented performance at the Asiad and Commonwealth Games in 2018 and the upcoming Championships will be exciting for all to watch. We look forward to welcoming the team and its officials to Odisha.”

Later, Dev said, “Chief Minister’s vision is that Odisha should be the No 1 in our country in the sports sector. In that context, this event will a milestone. We have successfully organized Asian Hockey Championship, Hockey World League, World Cup and so on. We are continuing the tradition. We hope we will be again maintaining the global standard.”

The State government has made all the arrangements for their accommodation as we have already booked good hotels. Security will also be provided, he said.

 ITTF Director and TTFI Advisor Dhanraj Choudhary lauding the State Government said, “Odisha, with its finest sports infrastructure and expertise has a global recognition today for hosting international sporting events of repute. We are thankful to the State Government for organizing the six-day Commonwealth Table Tennis championships. We are confident participants and spectators will leave with a positive experience.”

Gupta said, Odisha TT team is ranked 10 in the country and an international Table Tennis event in the home state is very encouraging for our players. They will get to witness great games, skills and tactics which they can observe and leverage in their individual performance.

Notably, the 21st Commonwealth Table Tennis (TT) Championships will be held from July 17th to July 22nd in Cuttack city, well-known as the millennium city-cum-old capital city of Odisha, while Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium has been slated as the venue for such an international event.